On page 2 of the shortstory, at least if you read it on the blizz webpage. No idea what page number it is in the pdf or other formats you can get it in.

It gets far worse, when you read what he used to make it too...

The final door was unlocked, and from the smell, Ten could tell that this was where Den Den lived. Den Den was the inn's hozen bartender. He was not a bad fellow as monkey folk went, and certainly a good deal more affable than his ladle-throwing cousin. But the room was a stinking den that looked more like a garbage heap than a domicile. Unwashed bedding, piles of seeds, a barrel filled with fruit rinds, and… what appeared to be a girl hozen dummy made from matted hair.

I think you're reading too much into that story. The pandaren are just supposed to provide filler content to get you through to the next real expansion. You are meant to see them as 1 dimensional caricatures, a race of peaceful farmers and honorable warriors, nothing more. Their story ends when we leave Pandaria, so there's no sense getting too invested in their lore.

Children having to perform feats of strength and endurance to join secret/martial societies is SUCH a common fantasy trope that I struggle to believe you were actually shocked or offended in any way by that story.

Nonetheless.. The Shado-Pan are literally the only force that has protected Pandaria for the last 10,000 years. It makes complete sense for them to be a stark contrast to the people they protect. They suffer and die so that the other Pandas can live their relaxed zen lifestyle, if they feel the need to have exacting trials to join their ranks its only because their general recruiting base has very little idea of what being a Shado-Pan means.

I get that the Shado Pan are supposed to be hard and accept no weakness in their ranks, but submitting children to such trials, where dying comes so easy, is overkill. Tbh, the initiate in Townlong Steppes, who lost his sword to a bunch of pranksters, doesn't come off as someone who has survived through these sorts of tests. Felt like a real dumbass to me. And what they threatened to do to Ten for his petty crime, the removal of fingers and all? Sounds like just an overblown threat for an effect, but looking how callous they are about their initiates makes me wonder.

So the Shado Pan are assholes, okay. But your ordinary pandaren citizen beating up a child for warming his paws for a moment? What?? Even if you don't want him to do that on your forge, then couldn't you just shoo him away? And yeah, like some have said, there's the deal with the Sha and you having to keep your shit together to avoid their corruption.

I also don't like how this short story and the game itself portray so different worlds. Ingame it really is just zen, often merrily drunk pandamen and their tougher but still reasonable sentinels. In the short story they are assholes, sadistically so in Shado pan's case. Feels inconsistent, and reminds me how differently Garrosh was portrayed here and there between different authors.

Nonetheless.. The Shado-Pan are literally the only force that has protected Pandaria for the last 10,000 years. It makes complete sense for them to be a stark contrast to the people they protect. They suffer and die so that the other Pandas can live their relaxed zen lifestyle, if they feel the need to have exacting trials to join their ranks its only because their general recruiting base has very little idea of what being a Shado-Pan means.

It's not just that. They have to conquer their emotions or they risk falling victim to Sha possession. The shadow pan in Kun'lai even explicitly states: "I should feel pride in what you accomplished, but I'm not allowed to feel anything right now."

They need people with exceptional resolve and they test them to the extreme. Fighting Sha is no childs play, why should Shadow Pan training be? If you can't survive a bath in a frozen lake, you can't survive an encounter with Sha either.

I think you're reading too much into that story. The pandaren are just supposed to provide filler content to get you through to the next real expansion. You are meant to see them as 1 dimensional caricatures, a race of peaceful farmers and honorable warriors, nothing more. Their story ends when we leave Pandaria, so there's no sense getting too invested in their lore.

this sums it up for me im sitting out MoP so the sooner the next xpac comes the sooner i/we/some of us/ can forget all aboot pandland
nice dude...

and NO, you cant shut me up ;p i gets infracted now n then but i is INVADER. i invade....

"Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man ... In such condition there is no place for industry, and consequently no culture of the earth, ... no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

I don't think it's particularly trying to be mature per se, I think the perception of 'maturity' is a side effect of its topic. It's trying to paint an impression and it does quite a decent job. The impression it's trying to paint isn't cuddly & arguably is inherently "mature", but that's total war for you.

(As something of an aside: I'd actually argue that total war by definition isn't mature because it involves no restraint, therefore it's the most childishly destructive approach, but it probably still counts as 'mature content' in a literary sense even if it is just unbounded childhood feuding in a social sense)

I think you're reading too much into that story. The pandaren are just supposed to provide filler content to get you through to the next real expansion. You are meant to see them as 1 dimensional caricatures, a race of peaceful farmers and honorable warriors, nothing more. Their story ends when we leave Pandaria, so there's no sense getting too invested in their lore.

Oh bullshit, Blizzard and fans of the game have wanted Pandaren for years, and they got an exponentially more complex amount of lore and important story than most people ever would have imagined they'd get. Every race in this game is based on being a recognizably larger than life caricature of human cultures, this expansion was a MUCH needed breath of fresh air for the creative team and artists at Blizzard. They were getting burned out doing nothing but lava and evil spikes and chains, which is what ended up in some part with why Cataclysm ended up being so forgettable and generic. MOP was just what they needed to clear the cobwebs out of their skulls and do something creative. The Pandaren will have a time and a place in the future just as much as any other race.